Descriptive Adverbials

[hlk123]

Hello

In "Mandarin Grammar: Essentials of Chinese Grammar for Students, Travelers & Businesspeople " (see down below) I read about Descriptive Adverbials.

My question:

In the first example shang1xin1 describes zou3le .. it doesn't describe the subject (Ta1).

Do I think rightly?
How should I understand the sentence?
Thank you.

-

Descriptive Adverbials
A descriptive adverbial can be used to describe either the subject or the verb of a sentence.
When describing the verb, 地, de, often becomes optional.
S + Adverbial + 地 + V
S + Adverbial + de + V
S V Adverbial

Describing the subject:
他 伤心 地 走了.
Ta1 shang1xin1 de zou3 le.
Heartbroken, he left.

Describing the verb:
他 很 快 地 睡着 了
Ta1 hen3 kuai4 de shui4zhao2 le
He quickly fell asleep.
 

[Demonic_Duck]

Correct. The manner in which he left was sorrowful. You can infer from that that he was also sorrowful at that time (so the translation's OK), but 伤心 is indeed modifying 走 rather than 他.

 

The second sentence is structurally the same, and the translation is fine.

[tysond]

You can't say "He heartbrokenly left" in English, but if you could that would be the literal meaning of the first sentence.  Sometimes I find it's easier to think of these things in broken English if you don't have to actually translate it.

[Guest realmayo]

Just thinking (too much) about this: 他伤心地走了: does this necessarily describe the manner of his walking? I mean, what if he's 伤心 but the manner of his walking -- the way he walks -- is not visibly sorrowful. 

 

I'm guessing that the Chinese sentence works even if his gait is normal?

In which case 伤心地 describes the state he is in when he 走了. Is that, grammatically, the same as manner?

[maomao2014]

 他伤心地走了 I think 伤心地describes his body language while he is leaving. From the sentence you can see a man maybe lower his head, maybe use his hand to wipe his tear, and walk away slowly.

 

If you want to describe his feeling, but walk away normally, you may say他很伤心，转身走了  He felt sad, turned around and left.